Kang- Yatse -2 with Markha Valley (17th August to 28th)

Kang- Yatse -2 with Markha Valley (17th August to 28th)

Planning:

I had planned for Chadar trek in Dec 2019 but some scheduling conflicts prompted me to advance the date of trek and look at options in Summer 2019. I had done Stok Kangri in July 2017 and thoroughly enjoyed it. During monsoon, there are few possibilities that are as accessible as Laddakh Himalayas. Besides, Kang Yatse had an Advanced Base Camp and that makes the summit much more feasible (more on this later). In July end,  I committed to Kang Yatse-2 joining the Bikat team for Aug 17th to 29th (https://www.bikatadventures.com/Home/Itinerary/Kang-Yatse-II-Trek).

Preparation:

I was on basic fitness and strength training regimen last few months.  Last few weeks, I started on weekly run of 10K, stair climbing and regular balance and mobility routines. A niggle that had bothered my while Stok descent was back again and I had to get rid of it. I tried not to overdo stairs and worsen the knee condition. My friendly physio George ( thanks George !!)  gave me last few treatments and I was off to Leh.

16^th and 17^th August:

By this time, I come to know that Advanced Base Camp has been shut down. So, the whole summit push has to be done at one go from Base Camp(16700 feet) to 20,250. This isn’t going to be any easier than Stok !!

I decided to fly a day before the actual start date which seemed prescient as rains resulted in cancellation of flights for next 2 days. First day in Leh was mostly uneventful. Except, I had a throbbing headache and the sky was overcast. 24 hours after landing, I took a Dimox 250 in a desperate attempt to get rid of the headache. It was perhaps unnecessary as I started feeling much better immediately afterwards and was perfectly fine within 36 hours of landing. I decided not to take it any more. Weather.com was showing Partly Cloudy and Mostly Sunny for next 10 days – not very convincing. I needed weather on my side if this had to happen. I did not know the team and the lacked the support I received on Stok summit from Jai (through out the trek) and Sameer (mostly on summit night when he set a steady pace).

I still remembered how unprepared I was for the cold faced on Stok summit. So, I took some time to arrange for a good Snow pant from Tibetan market and hired a good down jacket. With numerous layers for socks, lower, upper and gloves, at least, clothing was not a factor any more.

Stroll in main market and visiting a place like Leh Ling Bookshop and Café is always a delight. As I come out of the café, sight of apricots cheered me up, bought loads of them and did not slow down even when I was warned that they could cause stomach upset !!

By the evening we had all gotten together – Paul, Rudy, Arthur and Tamara. We decided to treat ourselves in Tibetan Kitchen before the hardship started. Laddakhi/Tibetan cuisine was wholesome and excellent – usual fare of Thukpa, Thenthuk and Momos.

I take a measure of my load. Dry weight of my bag is now 16 Kg. Add another 4 Kg for water and the load becomes well nigh unbearable for me. I opt for offloading option reluctantly and promise myself to plan better next time and bring it down to 15 Kg.

18^th August:

We have a briefing with Rohit Mishra who is the Trek/Expedition leader. My headache has vanished and we have some Balti cuisine in Nameza that Tamara has discovered. She has a knack for it.

Using high ankle boots and walking the slopes(nor sure what is more significant), I have a pain in my shin. This needs to be debugged !!

We also find that first four days will be at homestays so our bags can be optimized. I shed few more extra pants, socks and shirts but fail to make any significant dent in my backpack weight.

Day 1 of walking: 19^th August: Chilling to Skiu(11,154)  – 7 Kms, Time: 3 hours . Very small elevation gain

We all get into a Tempo Traveller and head for Chilling. We meet Chngdum Ji who is our local guide. We soon find out that he has good working knowledge of French which is useful for our group. He breaks into ‘Frer Jacques’ every now and then. As we continue past the confluence of Indus and Zanskar along the Zanskar river, we see the road getting constructed. This road will provide succor to Zanskar people who travel the Chadar in winter to reach Leh. This road will provide a lifeline to Zanskar and will most likely turn Chadar trek into a popular tourist destination and make the trek redundant. Some enthusiastic trekkers are trying to beat the time and do this trek before the road is completed!!  River crossing trolley mechanism has been replaced by a bridge. Soon after crossing the bridge on the left, we would start walking after collecting our lunch pack. Juice, boiled egg and boiled potato will be a constant feature in every packed lunch added to a pancake/roti/rice. Although we face rain today, its an easy day with a tea break at a parachute café. Markha river is on our right and will remain so for next  3 days.

Just before reaching the village, we see a Buddhist temple to the left. We cross the stream and find an old tea shop submerged in sludge that was brought by flash floods last year. We start seeing apricot trees laden with orange red fruits with an equally voluminous bed of apricots below the tree. Leh berry(Seabuckthorn) trees are full of colors at different stages of ripening – green, yellow and bright red. 

Markha valley is bountiful unlike any other that I have seen in Laddakh so far. As opposed to a patch of greenery, this one goes all along the valley. Will be interesting to see how this impacted the history of this valley. A large size spider is seen just before we reach out homestay. At every stop, we would see insects and bees of all kinds – even a mosquito in our tent at base camp. Looks like this place just gives you sufficient time to stare at nothingness long enough, insects are everywhere.

In Markha valley,  Markha village is the biggest village and is well inside the valley away from road access. Not sure how this came about.  

We are served tea as soon we reach Skiu homestay. It has a beautiful vegetable patch with lettuce, cabbage, carrot, cauli flower, coriander, potato etc. We start back to visit the small village monastery after the tea. All through the trek we would have option for black, mint and milk tea. Tamara steps on an innocuous patch of mud and finds herself sinking into it and has to be pulled out by couple of people.  Chongdum Ji starts issuing repeated gesticulations  to us to follow him, a constant feature through the trek. A key to the locked shrine is found from a local contact and we start deciphering the icons of the temple (Lhakhang is a shrine as opposed to a gompa which is a monastery).

Group at Skiu Lhakhang

Such brief evening walks are for acclimatization and will continue through the trek preferably taking us to slightly higher altitudes, doing a customary 30 minutes or so rest to do effective acclimation and then bringing us down to our camp level to rest for the night. The other tip for acclimatization was to keep our ears open when at high altitude.

Rosefinch on Apricot

After returning from gompa we settle down in dining area for some more tea. All Laddakhi home stays have a nice dining area where you squat and eat on low benches.

We have another guide and few more guests sharing the homestay. I start talking to Chnogdum Ji about Zanskar region, his home. Currently, Zanskar is part of Kargill district. Hemis national park, this trek is traversing is indeed bordering on the Zanskar region of the Kargil district. Key Zanskar town of Padum is not reachable in winter from the district headquarters of Kargil and Zanskaris want out of Kargil district. So, much like geographical reshaping of this region, political reshaping continues. This discussion is in keeping with the interview of local MP Namgyal on DD Leh that we watch using their dish TV.

Conversion soon breaks into Buddhist philosophy. Arthur has few questions and the other local guide is patiently providing rationale for some of the Buddhist rituals. I am interested in knowing what is the place of Maitreya, Avlokiteshwara and Padmasambhava in Buddhist panoply and who does he worship. Our conversation is broken by dinner call. We are served rice, mixed vegetable and momos. Mixed vegetable has completely been concocted out of the house produce and is to die for. Milk and eggs have to be brought down from Leh town as also any personal communication. There are no land lines, cell phones in Markha valley. Satellite phones are prohibited in this valley.

Stok village homestay where we stayed in 2017 had western commode and wider choice of food. This homestay is not as resourceful and has less access to Leh city, education and tourist inflow.

Early morning, Miket shows up at the homestay to join the group. He is the sixth participant and has joined late due to flight cancellations.

Day -2 : 20^th August:  Skiu(11,154) to Sara( 11,490) – 11 KM – 4 hours 45 mins.

This is another easy day. Miket is not in good shape so I take some of his extra weight. Rudi and Tamara also carry Miket’s backpack to give him relief. Miket has an old back injury that is acting up.

Weather opens up and we have a very sunny day. We need to shed layers to manage the heat while walking. My 3L hydration pack is handy and am carrying 15Kg bag without crashing to the ground, that’s encouraging. Downside is that my shin is becoming very soar.

We take a break in a small meadow where everyone decides to take a nap an hour before we reach the 2 house Sara village.  Number of trekkers keep pouring into the homestay. They are soon overflowing into the courtyards where tents are being set-up. A couple of from Israel and a small family with geologist mother also turn up. Along with our group, there is another large group from TTH. I make acquaintance with Milind and Anjali who live 10 minutes away from me in Bangalore. Their trek lead Anu has a secret recipe for Apricot chutney and putting her stash of windfallen fruits to good use. We soon discover that the solar water heater can provide for all our washing needs and everyone makes a beeline for it. Some of us have a mild headache. I fill-up my Quechua bottles with hot water to do some bottle-rolling on my shin. A couple of days of this exercise finally relives me of the soreness. The person from Israel is interested in the background of the current Kashmir turmoil and Milind provides him a very detailed explanation of what has happened in the state since 1940’s.

We have momos for dinner and rice. I wake up early with my head ache gone and I head out to explore birds in the area. Chukar and finches are in plenty. We fill-up with dal and porridge for breakfast in addition to rotis and start for Markha.

Day -3 : 21st August:  Sara(11,490) to Markha(12,139) – 9 KM – 3 hours .

This is another easy day of trek. I again straggle to engage in bird photography. I find few Red Fronted Serins but in spite of discreet chasing , they elude me. I also spot a Bluethroat briefly that disappears soon while I am left pursuing the Warblers that feed on this bushy tail of a plant. We stop at a parachute café(their tents look like parachutes) and take extended lunch break. Rudi goes out looking for a soft patch of grass for afternoon siesta while we are playing with the kittens that show up.

Soon after I run into a geologist from Germany who has been studying glaciers in Himalayas for decades. He has done his PhD on Baltoro glaciers in Pakistan’s Balti region. Apparently, now the Pakistan government is not welcoming foreigners into the region possibly because of China’s Karakoram highway project. He has better access to Indian Himalayas. He still rued that scientists are not allowed anywhere near Siachen glacier and no data is available about these glaciers to scientific community. It looked like this would be in the interests of Indian defense to share this scientific data but what do I know. He further said that they have not seen any glaciers receding above 5000 meters in their measurements over the years however the data on thickness of these glaciers has very limited history. They a have a new satellite that has started tracking thickness of the cover.

Markha village is a large  settlement with 20+ houses. Our homestay is also nice with a large dining room. There are young kids in the house flitting about with toys and notebooks in hand. Kids in small villages like Skiu and Sara either walk to Markha or stay in a relative’s house or are sent to Leh to study. Markha also has a primary health care center.

Markha Village and River

We go for an acclimatization walk past the school and up to the gompa. While walking back to homestay I run into a number of teenagers. Anton has stayed in West Bengal serving in an orphanage for a year and is now heading back to Germany. I keep running into travelers from mainland Europe and Israel and one from Japan too. None from any English speaking country, strangely.

Chorten at Markha Lhakhang

Day -4 : 22nd August:  Markha(12,139) to Hunkar(13,124) - 

 This is the last easy day of trek. Sometime after leaving Markha we see Techa gompa. Its one of those vertiginous climbs where your ankles are being bent at an impossible angle. A key to the shrine is somehow found by our support team staff and some of the team decides to go up. We reach the top , take a few pictures and then descend back. There is no sign of any priest but there is clearly a room with few pots and pans and other appurtenances hanging outside. We resume our journey and soon reach another parachute café. I and Rohit sample the Leh berry juice(processed) while Arthur and Tamara sample the Camomile tea. Apparently, Camomile is found near Nimaling. I find the monk who lives Techa gompa retuning back from Hunkar. He offers to share only thing thats in his possession – a Coke bottle. I politely decline but wonder at the irony.

Ascending above the valley floor from Markha to Hunkar

This is our last day in homestay. Warm water is available. Much cleaning and washing is done. It is time for acclimatization walk and I would rather do it in my sandals as my toes are hurting. Rohit denies me that luxury and insists that I wear boots. We climb a steep hill and start on a steeper walk up the fort. 

Need for wearing boots was not an exaggeration. The whole fort is balanced precariously on this tiny piece of land perched above the valley. Chongdum Ji repeatedly asks us to stay away from the edges. While descending from the fort, Arthur spots a Pika mouse.

Night sky is really clear now and everyone streams out to see milky way. Milind has a great voice and he regales everyone with beautiful old Hindi songs before everyone calls it a day. Overnight, extension chord is the busiest place – all camera batteries and power banks are charged. I leave behind my Garmin charger in the tangle of these wires and my watch is living on borrowed time now onwards.

I clip my toe nails very deep hoping that it would relieve the pressure on my toes, it works !!

Day -5 : 23^rd August:  Hunkar(13,124) to Nimaling(15,419) – 7 hours – 15 Km

This is going to be a long day so we start by 8 AM. I fill up my bag and weigh 15 Kg. Arthur and Tamara have been walking strong. Rudy and Paul are also very steady. Miket is very relaxed and is traveling light due to his pain. Overall, the team is in very good shape to summit, it appears. We leave Markha river behind and gain elevation quickly.  On the way, we pass Tanchungtse camp ground that is used by some of the trekkers. We start seeing choughs, marmots and pika rats. We see 2 beautiful ponds and the air is suddenly much cooler when we stop for lunch break. 

Not a worry in the world !!

About an hour later, we are in the camp. Nomads who tend Pashmina goats live on the other side of the stream.

Looking west from Hunkar- Nimaling trail

 We have gained significant altitude today and I am concerned about my appetite. I remember forcing myself to eat rice, dal with Lays chips at Stok camp. We slide into the tent and tried to figure out the 2 sleeping bag arrangement – inner down and outer synthetic. I decide to use one and cover myself with the other. I need the flexibility to go out in the night thrice that comes with drinking copious amount of water (4-5L). I envy Miket, who does not have to, maybe its just the age !!

I rest for 30 minutes or so in the tent and I am in deep sleep. Call for acclimatization walk does not excite me but Rohit says its mandatory. I drag myself out of the tent reluctantly and start walking. Arthur spots a Redstart, new birds start appearing at this height. Bikat team has fortunately set-up another toilet tent which is almost stench-less.

Dinner conversation is invariably about food or religion, both are very relevant at this location. We discuss (French) Fries and Rudy describes how it was meant to be a poor man’s meal. Belgian Fries, as it should be called, are twice cooked and have a special oil in which they are fried. Rudy also talks about his visit to Laddakh 40 years back when there was no air service. We talk about Baha’i religion that Paul follows and his recent visit to Lotus temple. Paul and Rudy come from a German speaking region that has autonomy with the Belgian nation. Its fascinating to see multiple identities that Europeans carry and how it allows them to have disparate points of view and appreciate them.

We are promised a sleep in next morning until 7 AM ! Morning is leisurely until Rohit asks us to try out Scarpa boots that will be needed for the climb. More than that, we are to use these boots for the trek until Base Camp to get ourselves accustomed to these monstrous shoes. We satisfy ourselves with the fit taking into the account extra pairs of socks that we would be wearing and start our walk a little late today.

Day -6  and 7 : 24^TH August and 25^th August:  Nimaling(15,419) to Base Camp(16,732) – 2 hours 30 minutes – 3.2 Km

We have started our walk late today (10 AM). Scarpa boots are crushing what comes beneath them on the ground. Your leg works as a complete unit as there is no movement of ankle. It’s a climb up with mostly soft ground and large size stones so there is no challenge in maintaining your balance. After an uphill climb and a short gentle descent, we are in base camp that will be our home for next 3 nights.

Kang Yatse-1(6400M left peak), Kang Yatse-1(6250M right peak) with a clutch of base camp tents at the bottom of the mountain.

A faint line that we will follow across the hill and then up on the main mountain leading to the right peak.

We are issued equipment for ascent that we all try out for fitment– helmet, harness, carabiner, gaiters and crampons.  I have a throbbing headache now and am hoping that it would subside by tomorrow. Countdown has started. Few summits have happened in last few days and we are waiting for our turn.

I have been having a pain in my left knee that is bothersome. Miket and Tamara both offer their magic balms/essential oil formulae for relief. I have a hot water bottle inside double sleeping bag for complete warmth in the night. Morning is much better and I do not have any headache. After breakfast, we head out for roping and training for the climb. Snow is still far from the camp, we are without crampons still. We discuss ways to respond when a person falls. After couple of hours, we are back for lunch. Plan is to sleep after lunch from 1 to 6, grab dinner at 6, rest from 6 to 8.45 and then get ready before starting the climb at 10 PM.

25^th August : Summit climb – Base Camp (16,732) to summit (20,250) – 16 hours – 8.8 kms (measured with my watch)

Everyone seems to be enjoying the food, one cant say the same thing about our sleep. I wake up many times during the night tossing and turning but normally get couple of hours of good sleep very early morning. Arthur and Paul are trying to feed themselves well to induce some sleep !! Trouble is just starting. We retire to our tent which has started getting generous share of sunlight in mid day. Bright yellow tents allow bright sunlight in and concentrate all the heat. Tent is working like a greenhouse and its impossible to get any rest, forget about sleep. Miket is soon dozing in the tent and I decide to use the time to hydrate and make numerous loo trips. Outside the tent, its bright but less warm with the cool breeze giving some relief. Tamara has taken that route to rest. Paul has decided to not worry about sleep and is busy with his iPad taking notes. I survey the kitchen tent, which is higher and less translucent, for any opening. Its full of staff and I return back to our own. The other team climbing with us has the same predicament. Out of their team of 15, at least some of them sound cheerful and are dealing with this hardship with lot of bantering and back-and-forth. Solo climber who came back early afternoon is holding forth about the conditions. He is genuinely concerned about another client who was accompanied by a guide and has been passed both going up and down. He seems to be looking towards the slope to spot him every now and then. Day is advancing and there is no sign of him. This has started worrying others too. Finally, he wraps up his stuff and heads towards his next adventure – Stok Kangri. Just before 5, sun lets up and I get rest for 15 minutes before the dinner is announced.

That thing behind the dinner tent that we need to climb !!

I have very light dinner and again start sorting out my back pack. I have decided to take 5L of water – a 3L hydration pack inside an insulated jacket, 1.5L Quechua bottle wrapped in a smartwool sock and a .5L flask with hot water. I have headlamp on my helmet and have spare batteries for it. Few napkin wipes, a swiss knife and spare socks. I take both my walking sticks, fill my pockets with dates that my sister in law just got for us from Algeria. Staff gives us endless supplies of candies and a packed lunch that has juice, apple , egg and potato again !! I have decided not to carry my camera. I would rather reach the top with cell phone camera and ample supply of water rather than struggle with extra 1.7 kgs of camera deadweight.

We have decided to use 2 ropes as all 6 on one rope may be too long. Rohit and Chongdum Ji will take one each. We have Stanzin from support staff who joins us if any of us need help. For Stok, we had started at 9 PM and summitted at 6 AM. I am concerned that we are starting  a bit late, I cant assume that I will be so much faster than last time. As Rohit revealed later, they did not want us out climbing long so as to get completely exhausted and unable to descend in a safe manner, hence the time of 10 PM. 7 AM is the turnaround time that is determined, after which any decision to advance has to be taken with careful consideration.

My clothing :

Socks liner (merino) and woolen socks(REI)

Bottom – Merino thermal, decathlon base layer, decathlon Quechua pants and Wind proof & Water proof pants : altogether 4 layers, one extra than what I had for Stok. I am hoping this would allow me to walk without freezing.

Top – Base layer merino, decathlon thermal, a shirt, two layers of fleece and down jacket

Head – fleece cap, helmet and jacket hood. I decide to keep away from Balaclava which feels too restrictive.

We leave the camp exactly at 10 PM – six of us , Rohit, Chongdum and Stanzin with the other team of 15 + trek leaders right behind us. We have to walk for 4-5 hours before we reach the glacier point where we rope up and wear crampons. For first hour, we are making good progress. There is not much of a trail, Chngdum is just leading us from his sense of direction and we are following him. Track is soft ground with some rocks in between. Our Scarpa boots are more than a match for this terrain. Miket’s back pain is bothering him, he decides to head back. Stanzin is tasked with the job of escorting him back. We are now walking on scree with snow in between. This is like walking on a checkerboard sprinkled with rocks and snow in equal measure. We continue on this for next couple of hours and its taking a toll on legs as you balance your foot on rocks that tilt forward, backward and every which way. I hear from Rudi that this pressure on legs is bothering him and he would rather go back. Exactly the same feeling here and I am waiting for the snow to start. Paul would want to keep company with his friend in whatever decision he takes. They both looked strong but that’s the decision. Chongdum Ji has to take them back to the camp. We reach the glacier point after some time. The other trek team has caught up with us. We are fitting our crampons and hitching ourselves to the rope and strapping our walking sticks to the backpack. We have one rope with Chongdum, Arthur, Tamara,I and Rohit. We start the ascent ahead of the other team. We take a few steps and then rest, often sitting down to rest our legs that have to do enormous amount of work. The climb is straight up,no switch-backs or zig – zag. There has been lot of fresh snow here this week when it rained in Leh. This is not a track where you can dig crampons horizontally and walk up. As we take an extended break, the other  team catches up with us and we have to give way. As we take rest, one can feel the sweat cooling off for the first time. Chongdum and Rohit want us to break free from the other team and we start overtaking them stepping away from the snow track. This is even more tiring but we are ahead now. Arthur starts feeling uneasy, probably lack of sleep or just being unwell. We have decided right in the beginning to not hide problems and be honest about it. Tamara, again, decides to stay with Arthur and go back if necessary. Rohit asks me I want to continue on. Rohit decides to send Arthur and Tamara back with the other team members that are going down and radioes Chongdum to receive them as he is still descending. As Arthur and Tamara turn back, Rohit tells me you are the only one now. I say “No pressure !!”. We have another 4-5 hours to climb. My progress is very slow now. I try all kinds of ways climb. Sideways, staggered, kicking crampons into the snow. Rohit moves forward and then waits for me when he sees beautiful orange color crescent moon almost rising from behind the mountains. We seem much higher up than the moon, a strange sensation. I stop to catch my breath and wonder if I should continue. Rohit asks me if I want to go back. I decline and then the same process is repeated 10 minutes later. I decide to take a 5 minute break and sit down. I feel much better and then we start 30 steps at a time. We start making good progress and do several variations of this old game of counting steps. We are making good progress, though, the other team is ahead of us. Morning light is breaking and that brings in some amount of cheer. We bring out our sunglasses. I am incredibly thirsty and fish out an apple that has been given to me. I have had about 2.5L water with ORS and am sick of it. Juicy apple gives me a new lease life and we continue. We are about 2 hours away and the gradient goes up by another nautch. Other team has a member sitting there as he is completely exhausted. They have 4 on the rope now – 2 trek leaders and 2 clients ahead of us. We do not try to catch up with but maintain a steady pace. I keep hoping for a Stok like shoulder which would reduce the gradient and give some relief to tired legs. There is no such thing here. We reach the peak just before 8 am to great relief and jubilation. Right then, my phone announces availability of 4G with incessant buzzing with messages as I have been off grid for 8 days now. Sky is very clear and I look to the north west searching for K-2 and Broad Peak and Gasherbrums’ that should be visible. No way to know – it’s a ring of peaks all around. Other team is finishing up with their pictures and its our turn. They try to launch the drone but it refuses to ascend, there is very little air pressure. We do the usual ones – standing on the peak, picture with tricolor etc. I make a Whatsapp video call and wife cant believe what she sees on the screen. Kang Yatse-1 is a menacing peak separated by a ragged knife edge. I start hearing a rumbling sound that does not sound like an aircraft, I see a part of Kang Yatse-1 falling off. That slope of Kang Yatse is like a vertical wall with visibly clear signs of cracks and instability. I take a picture after getting assured that our part of the mountain is safe !! 

We start back at 8:30, Rohit reminds me that most accidents happen in descent. Its difficult to gauge distance in featureless white snow – Rohit would counter my estimate of 30 minutes with 90 minutes. My legs were tired and I could not trust them any more. I kept sliding on the trail just at the right angles to not break any bone but causing sufficient discomfort. I was relieved when the snow track ended. At this point, there was no trail and no Chongdum to follow. I had to decide whether to sink my feet into shallow snow or step on slick rock and risk my bones. Either would have been fine if I had any strength and belief in my legs. That was gone. I would fall innumerable times before I completed this gauntlet. Rohit would appear like a gnome every now and then and lead me out of this quagmire. I reached the camp at 2 PM and tried to get some rest after meeting the team.

Walk back to Chogdo via Kongmaru La(5130 m) was long one but most enjoyable. 

Kongamru La (5130M) climb

Mountains left of Kang Yatse visible from Kongmaru La

Saying goodbye to Kang Yatse before descending from Kongmaru La on the other other side

We reached Leh and celebrated our trek with some wheat beer and red wine. In retrospective meeting everyone agrees that a day of training on snow would have improved our chances of success. There are mixed feelings – we could have had more members on the summit but we enjoyed the trek nevertheless and there are no injuries and we are safe.

I was comparing the two climbs – Stok and Kang Yatse-2. Stok has better trail and has couple of potions that have less grade. Glacier crossing is a very small slope up and climb from shoulder to peak is lesser incline. In contrast, Kang Yatse-2 has steep incline all the way so there is no relief through out the climb. But, more than anything else, the difficulty is a function of weather conditions and snow/trail conditions. We had just the ideal weather for trek including the summit day – open sky and very low wind. I could not have asked for more.